Pak brighten up campaign with big win

Chasing a monumental 340 at the McLean Park, the expat-loaded UAE were tottering at 25/3 in the 10th over but still managed to end at 210/8 in 50 overs, showing the depth in their batting line-up and the inability of the Pakistani bowlers to bowl out a ‘smaller’ team.

From the poor start, UAE arose through Khurram Khan (43) and Shaiman Anwar’s (62) significant 83-run fourth-wicket patient partnership. In the process, the Sialkot-born Anwar, who has been in terrific form, scored his second ODI half-century to become the World Cup’s highest scorer with 270 runs from four matches.

Later, after the duo got out, wicketkeeper-batsman Swapnil Patil (36) and Amjad Javed (40) stuck it out in the middle to help their side play out the 50 overs. Experienced spinner Shahid Afridi (2/35) was the pick of the bowlers clinching two wickets while pacers Sohail Khan (2/54) and Wahab Riaz (2/54) also picked up two wickets each. Rahat Ali was economical, clinching one wicket and giving away only 30 runs from his 10 overs to help Pakistan win their second match in four games.

Earlier, Pakistan as a batting unit clicked to post their first 300 plus total of this World Cup when they put up 339/6. Put in to bat, Pakistan received an early jolt when they lost opener Nasir Jamshed (4) in the fourth over. But thereon, man-of-the-match Ahmed Shehzad (93) and Haris Sohail (70) struck a crucial second-wicket partnership of 160 runs to create the platform for a big total. Though the duo got out in quick succession, Pakistan did not lose the momentum as the mantle was handled by Sohaib Maqsood (45) and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (65).

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq said Wednesday’s 129-run win over UAE was much needed. “That’s a much needed win for us and obviously we won by a big margin. So, now we can just relax a little bit on the net run-rate also,” said Misbah at the post-match ceremony. Misbah added their next match against South Africa on March 29 in Auckland would be of prime importance. “The next game is a very important for us and we need to focus on that,” concluded the 40-year-old.